Air heating apparatus

ABSTRACT

An air heating apparatus according to the present disclosure includes an expansion tank that stores water, a water heater that receives heat from a combustion gas generated by a combustion reaction and heats the water, a heating heat exchanger that receives the water heated by the water heater and exchanges the heat with air to be discharged for heating, a fan that delivers the air to the heating heat exchanger, and a steam supply flow path that supplies steam in the expansion tank to the fan.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of priority to Korean PatentApplication No. 10-2022-0076445, filed in the Korean IntellectualProperty Office on Jun. 22, 2022, the entire contents of which areincorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to an air heating apparatus.

BACKGROUND

Air conditioning systems for heating rooms in the winter season maysupply heating by transferring heat formed by burning fuel to air anddistributing the heated air to each room. FIG. 1 is a conceptual viewillustrating an air conditioning system including an air heatingapparatus according to the related art. The air heating apparatus mayinclude an expansion tank 20, a water heater 30, a heating heatexchanger 40, and a fan 50.

In the case of the air conditioning system, since the heated air isdischarged to the room, the room may become very dry. Thus, in the caseof the air conditioning system, to adjust humidity, a humidifier isinstalled in a discharge duct 2 through which the heated air isdischarged, and the heated air is humidified and is then supplied to theroom. That is, when the humidity adjustment is desired, a separatehumidifier should be purchased and installed.

However, in the air conditioning system according to the related art,additional work is required to connect a separate pipe to the humidifierto supply water to the humidifier. Further, a pipe for dischargingresidual water that has not evaporated in an evaporator of thehumidifier should be secured. Thus, installation costs arise in thatadditional pipe connection work should be performed.

Further, the air conditioning system includes two devices including aheating device and a humidity adjustment device, and thus cannot beintegrated and controlled as a single system.

SUMMARY

The present disclosure has been made to solve the above-mentionedproblems occurring in the prior art while advantages achieved by theprior art are maintained intact.

An aspect of the present disclosure provides an air heating apparatusthat may humidify circulating air by utilizing heating water withoutinstalling a separate humidifier.

The technical problems to be solved by the present disclosure are notlimited to the aforementioned problems, and any other technical problemsnot mentioned herein will be clearly understood from the followingdescription by those skilled in the art to which the present disclosurepertains.

According to an aspect of the present disclosure, an air heatingapparatus includes an expansion tank that stores water, a water heaterthat receives heat from a combustion gas generated by a combustionreaction and heats the water, a heating heat exchanger that receives thewater heated by the water heater and exchanges the heat with air to bedischarged for heating, a fan that delivers the air to the heating heatexchanger, and a steam supply flow path that supplies steam in theexpansion tank to the fan.

The air heating apparatus may further include an air supply flow paththat has one end connected to the expansion tank and supplies, to theexpansion tank, a portion of the air delivered to the heating heatexchanger by the fan.

When a direction in which the fan faces the heating heat exchangerrefers to a reference direction, the other end of the air supply flowpath may be disposed in the heating heat exchanger in the referencedirection.

The air heating apparatus may further include a humidifying damper thatis disposed in the air supply flow path and opens or closes the airsupply flow path.

The air heating apparatus may further include a suction duct thatcommunicates with a room and guides indoor air to the fan, a humiditymeasurement device that is disposed in the suction duct and measures ahumidity of the indoor air suctioned through the fan, and a controllerthat controls an operation of the humidifying damper based on thehumidity measured by the humidity measurement device.

The air heating apparatus may further include a heating water supplyflow path that supplies external water to the expansion tank, and aheating water supplement valve that opens or closes the heating watersupply flow path.

The air heating apparatus may further include a water level detectionsensor that detects a water level inside the expansion tank, and acontroller that controls an operation of the heating water supplementvalve based on the water level measured by the water level detectionsensor.

The air heating apparatus may further include a drain flow path thatdischarges the water in the expansion tank to the outside, wherein apoint at which the expansion tank and the heating water supply flow pathare connected is disposed below a point at which the expansion tank andthe drain flow path are connected.

The air heating apparatus may further include a circulation supply flowpath that is formed to connect the expansion tank, the water heater, andthe heating heat exchanger and guides the water in the expansion tank tothe heating heat exchanger via the water heater, a circulation recoveryflow path that is formed to connect the heating heat exchanger and theexpansion tank and guides the water heat-exchanged with the air to theexpansion tank, and a circulation pump that is disposed downstream ofthe expansion tank and upstream of the water heater in the circulationsupply flow path and pumps the water in the circulation supply flowpath.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the presentdisclosure will be more apparent from the following detailed descriptiontaken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings:

FIG. 1 is a conceptual view illustrating an air conditioning systemincluding an air heating apparatus according to the related art;

FIG. 2 is a conceptual view illustrating an air heating apparatus 1according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a side view of the air heating apparatus 1 according to theembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a view illustrating an expansion tank;

FIG. 5 is a concept view illustrating the expansion tank; and

FIG. 6 is a view illustrating a fan.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Hereinafter, some embodiments of the present disclosure will bedescribed in detail with reference to the exemplary drawings. In addingreference numerals to components of each drawing, it should be notedthat identical or equivalent components are designated by an identicalnumeral even when they are displayed on other drawings. Further, indescribing the embodiment of the present disclosure, a detaileddescription of the related known configuration or function will beomitted when it is determined that it interferes with the understandingof the embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a conceptual view illustrating an air heating apparatus 1according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The air heatingapparatus 1 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure may beinstalled in a house. The air heating apparatus 1 may be connected to aduct connected to each room of the house and deliver heated air to eachroom to perform heating. The air may flow into the air heating apparatusfrom an outside of the house or may return to the air heating apparatusthrough the room of the house. The air may flow into the air heatingapparatus from the outside of the house, but in the specification of thepresent disclosure, a description is basically made based on assumptionthat the air returns.

In the present specification, a front-rear direction, a left-rightdirection, and an up-down direction are referred to for convenience ofdescription and may be directions perpendicular to each other. However,this direction is determined relative to a direction in which the airheating apparatus is disposed, and the up-down direction may notnecessarily refer to a vertical direction.

Further, the wording “flow path” used below may refer to a tubular pipethrough which a fluid may flow and may refer to a component that mayhave various materials and shapes, such as soft tubes and metal pipes.

Further, the expressions “upstream” and “downstream” in the presentdisclosure may be based on a flow direction of the fluid. For example,when the fluid flows from a left side to a right side, the left side maycorrespond to an upstream side, and the right side may correspond to adownstream side.

First, a basic component of the air heating apparatus according to theembodiment of the present disclosure will be described with reference tothe drawings. FIG. 3 is a side view of the air heating apparatus 1according to the embodiment of the present disclosure.

The air heating apparatus 1 according to the embodiment of the presentdisclosure may include a case 10, the expansion tank 20, the waterheater 30, the heating heat exchanger 40, and the fan 50. The expansiontank 20, the water heater 30, the heating heat exchanger 40, and the fan50 may be arranged inside the case 10.

In briefly describing an overall air heating mechanism, in the airheating apparatus 1, water stored in the expansion tank 20 is heated inthe water heater 30 and is then delivered to the heating heat exchanger40. The heated water delivered to the heating heat exchanger 40 heatsthe air delivered from the fan 50, and the heated air is delivered toeach room. Hereinafter, respective components will be described in moredetail.

<Expansion Tank 20>

FIG. 4 is a view illustrating an expansion tank. FIG. 5 is a conceptview illustrating the expansion tank. The expansion tank 20 may beprovided to store the water. The water may flow from an external watersource. The expansion tank 20 may be formed to accommodate a volumechange due to a change in a temperature of the water. The expansion tank20 may be of an open type to accommodate volume expansion of the water.

As illustrated in FIG. 5 , the expansion tank 20 may be connected to acirculation supply flow path 60. The circulation supply flow path 60 maybe a flow path connecting the expansion tank 20, the water heater 30,and the heating heat exchanger 40 to each other. That is, the water mayflow from the expansion tank 20 via the water heater 30 into the heatingheat exchanger 40.

When the temperature changes or the water flows into or out from theexpansion tank 20 in a state in which the expansion tank 20 is filledwith the water, an internal pressure of the expansion tank 20 may alsochange. Accordingly, the water accommodated in the expansion tank 20 maybe provided to other components along the circulation supply flow path60.

A circulation pump 61 may be disposed downstream of the expansion tank20 and upstream of the water heater 30 in the circulation supply flowpath 60. The circulation pump 61 may be provided to pump the water inthe circulation supply flow path 60. The circulation pump 61 may beconnected to a controller 100.

Further, the expansion tank 20 may be connected to a circulationrecovery flow path 70. The circulation recovery flow path 70 may be aflow path that is formed to connect the heating heat exchanger 40 andthe expansion tank 20 and guides, to the expansion tank 20, the waterheat-exchanged with the air in the heating heat exchanger 40.

A water level detection sensor 24 that detects a water level inside theexpansion tank 20 may be disposed inside the expansion tank 20. Thewater level detection sensor 24 may be connected to the controller 100,which will be described below.

The expansion tank 20 may be connected to a heating water supply flowpath 21. The heating water supply flow path 21 may be provided to supplyexternal water to the expansion tank 20. A heating water supplementvalve 22 provided to open or close the heating water supply flow path 21may be disposed in the heating water supply flow path 21. When the wateris insufficient in the expansion tank 20, the water may be supplementedthrough the heating water supply flow path 21.

Further, the expansion tank 20 may be connected to a drain flow path 23.The drain flow path 23 may be provided to discharge the water in theexpansion tank 20 to the outside. A point at which the expansion tank 20and the heating water supply flow path 21 are connected may be disposedlower than a point at which the expansion tank 20 and the drain flowpath 23 are connected. When the water in the expansion tank 20 becomesexcessive, the water may drain through the drain flow path 23.

<Water Heater 30>

The water heater 30 is a component provided to heat and discharge theintroduced water. To heat the water, the water heater 30 may generate acombustion reaction and transfer heat generated from the combustionreaction to the water.

The water heater 30 may include a burner 31 and a heat exchanger 32. Theburner 31 generates the combustion reaction. Thus, the burner 31 mayreceive fuel and air and may form a flame using an ignition plug in amixture of the fuel and the air to generate the combustion reaction. Forthis reaction, the burner 31 may include a blower that blows the air, afuel nozzle that injects the fuel, and a spark plug that generates aspark for ignition.

The burner 31 may further include a mixing chamber, and the fuel and theair are mixed in the mixing chamber. The heat and a combustion gas maybe generated by the combustion reaction, and these heat and combustiongas may be transferred to the water. The fuel may be natural gas usedfor power generation as well as methane, ethane, and the like or oil,but the type of the fuel is not limited thereto. The flame formed by thecombustion reaction generated by the burner 31 may be disposed in aninternal space of a combustion chamber positioned below the burner 31.The combustion chamber may be a wet-type combustion chamber. As anexample, a water pipe through which the water passes may be disposed ona side surface of the combustion chamber in a form surrounding the sidesurface of the combustion chamber. In a process of dissipating the heatinside the combustion chamber to the outside of the combustion chamber,a portion of the heat may be transferred to the water in the water pipe.

The heat exchanger 32 is disposed to transfer the heat generated by theburner 31 to the water. The heat exchanger 32 may be disposed below theburner 31.

Meanwhile, the heat exchanger 32 may have an integrated heat exchangerstructure. The integrated heat exchanger structure may refer to a heatexchanger structure through which different types of heat exchange mediacirculate. As the heat exchanger 32 has the integrated heat exchangerstructure, the heat exchanger 32 may have a structure in which anoverall height is reduced while performance is maintained as compared toa heat exchanger used in a general condensing boiler. Thus, despite anarrow internal structure of the air heating apparatus 1, the overallheight of the water heater 30 may be reduced. Accordingly, variouscomponents may be easily arranged inside the air heating apparatus 1,and the entire air heating apparatus 1 may be miniaturized.

<Heating Heat Exchanger 40>

The heating heat exchanger 40 is a component provided for heat exchangebetween the water and the air. The heating heat exchanger 40 may beprovided to receive the water and exchange heat between the water andthe air to be discharged for heating.

The heating heat exchanger 40 may include a heat exchange tube throughwhich the water heated by the water heater 30 may flow. The heatexchange tube may be formed in a pipe shape so that the water flowsthrough an inside thereof and the air delivered by the fan 50 may flowtherethrough and may be provided to form a flow path winding in thefront-rear direction and the left-right direction. The heat exchangetube may be made of a material including aluminum and copper.

<Fan 50>

FIG. 6 is a view illustrating a fan. The fan 50 is provided to deliverthe air to the heating heat exchanger 40. As an example, as illustratedin FIG. 3 , the fan 50 may be disposed below the heating heat exchanger40 to deliver the air to the upper side so that the air passes throughthe heating heat exchanger 40, and an outlet through which the air isdischarged may be formed to face the upper side. As another example, thefan 50 may be disposed above the heating heat exchanger 40 to deliverthe air to the lower side so that the air passes through the heatingheat exchanger 40, and the outlet through which the air is dischargedmay be formed to face the lower side.

The fan 50 includes components such as a motor and a blade and may beelectrically connected to the controller 100. Thus, as the fan 50operates under electrical control, the motor may rotate the blade todeliver the air. The fan 50 may include an impeller or the like to pumpthe air.

Among an internal space of the case 10, an air delivery space that is anempty space may be formed between the fan 50 and the heating heatexchanger 40.

An air circulation process will be described below on the basis of thefan 50. The air flowing into the fan 50 may be delivered upward ordownward. The delivered air passes through the heating heat exchanger40. While passing through the heating heat exchanger 40, the air may beheated by receiving the heat from the water passing through the heatingheat exchanger 40. The heated air may be delivered to each room of thehouse through a discharge duct 2. The air delivered to each room or coldair flowing into the house from the outside may flow into the fan 50through a suction duct 3 again. The suction duct 3 may be formed tocommunicate with the room and guide indoor air to the fan 50.

<Steam Supply Flow Path 80>

The air heating apparatus according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure may further include a steam supply flow path 80. The steamsupply flow path 80 may be provided to supply steam in the expansiontank 20 to the fan 50. Since heating water is present in the expansiontank 20, the steam is also present. The steam supply flow path 80 maysupply the steam to the fan 50 to humidify the air delivered from thefan 50.

As an example, the steam supply flow path 80 may humidify the airflowing into the fan 50 to humidify the air delivered from the fan 50.As another example, the steam supply flow path 80 may humidify the airdelivered from the fan 50 in a manner of humidifying the air dischargedfrom the fan 50.

<Air Supply Flow Path 90>

The air heating apparatus according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure may further include an air supply flow path 90. One end ofthe air supply flow path 90 may be connected to the expansion tank 20.The air supply flow path 90 may be provided to supply, to the expansiontank 20, a portion of the air delivered to the heating heat exchanger 40by the fan 50.

Meanwhile, when a direction in which the fan 50 faces the heating heatexchanger 40 is referred to as a reference direction, the other end ofthe air supply flow path 90 may be disposed in the heating heatexchanger 40 in the reference direction. For example, when the fan 50 isdisposed below the heating heat exchanger 40, the reference directionmay be an upward direction. Dry indoor air introduced through thesuction duct 3 may flow into the expansion tank 20 through the airsupply flow path 90, thereby increasing an evaporation rate of theheating water in the expansion tank 20.

Meanwhile, a humidifying damper 91 may be disposed in the air supplyflow path 90. The humidifying damper 91 may be disposed in the airsupply flow path 90 and provided to open or close the air supply flowpath 90.

<Controller 100>

The air heating apparatus 1 according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure may further include the controller 100. The controller 100may include a processor and a memory. The processor serves as acomponent including an element that may perform a logic operation forperforming a control command and may include a central processing unit(CPU) or the like. The processor may be connected to various components,transmit a signal according to the control command to the respectivecomponents to perform control, and receive information acquired by theconnection to various sensors or acquirers in the form of a signal.Thus, in the embodiment of the present disclosure, the processor may beelectrically connected to various components included in the air heatingapparatus 1. Since the processor may be electrically connected to therespective components, the processor may be connected with wires orfurther include a communication device capable of wireless communicationto perform mutual communication.

The processor is electrically connected to the components of theintegrated air heating apparatus 1 according to the embodiment of thepresent disclosure, performs calculation using received information, andtransmits a control signal. Thus, the components may be controlled in anoptimal state, and the components may operate in conjunction with eachother automatically. Further, information or control data obtained fromthe circulating water and air, which will be described below, isobtained, integrated and controlled in real time due to the integratedinterlocking control of the processor, and thus uniform efficiency maybe maintained, and optimal setting suitable for the entire system may beautomatically performed.

Control commands performed by the processor may be stored in the memoryand utilized. The memory may be a device such as a hard disk drive(HDD), a solid state drive (SSD), a server, a volatile medium, and anon-volatile medium, but the types of the memory are not limitedthereto. In addition, data and the like that the processor needs toperform a work may be further stored in the memory.

The controller 100 may be provided to control an operation of thehumidifying damper 91 based on a humidity measured by a humiditymeasurement device 4. The humidity measurement device 4 may be disposedin the suction duct 3 to measure a humidity of the indoor air suctionedthrough the fan 50.

For example, the humidity measurement device 4 may include a humiditysensor. The humidity sensor may be an electrical resistance humiditysensor that measures a humidity based on electrical resistance andrelative humidity. Alternatively, the humidity sensor may be acapacitive humidity sensor that measures a humidity based on acapacitance of both ends of an electrode, which changes according to thehumidity.

As an example, when the humidity of the indoor air obtained by thehumidity measurement device 4 is lower than a target humidity,humidification is required, and thus the controller 100 operates thehumidifying damper 91 to open the air supply flow path 90. In this case,more dry indoor air flows into the expansion tank 20, and accordingly,more steam is generated in the expansion tank 20. More generated steampasses through the steam supply flow path 80 and flows into the roomthrough the discharge duct 2, and thus the humidity of the indoor airmay increase.

As another example, when the humidity of the indoor air obtained by thehumidity measurement device 4 is higher than the target humidity,humidification is not required, and thus the controller 100 operates thehumidifying damper 91 to close the air supply flow path 90. In thiscase, less dry indoor air flows into the expansion tank 20, andaccordingly, less steam is generated in the expansion tank 20, and thusthe humidity of the indoor air may be maintained or lowered.

Further, when the operation of the air heating apparatus 1 is stopped,the controller 100 may operate the humidifying damper 91 to close theair supply flow path 90 so as to prevent evaporation of the heatingwater.

Further, the controller 100 may be provided to control the operation ofthe heating water supplement valve 22 based on the water level measuredby the water level detection sensor 24. As an example, when the waterlevel obtained by the water level detection sensor 24 is lower than orequal to a predetermined reference water level, the water isinsufficient in the expansion tank 20, and thus the heating watersupplement valve 22 may be operated to open the heating water supplyflow path 21.

Further, the controller 100 may be connected to the circulation pump 61to control the operation of the circulation pump 61. For example, when arequired heating temperature increases, the circulation pump 61 may becontrolled to increase the amount of water pumped by the circulationpump 61.

According to the present disclosure, circulating air may be humidifiedby utilizing heating water without installing a separate humidifier, andthus installation costs are reduced, and integrated control of thehumidifier and the air heating apparatus may be performed.

The above description is merely illustrative of the technical spirit ofthe present disclosure, and those skilled in the art to which thepresent disclosure belongs may make various modifications and changeswithout departing from the essential features of the present disclosure.Thus, the embodiments disclosed in the present disclosure are notintended to limit the technology spirit of the present disclosure, butare intended to describe the present disclosure, and the scope of thetechnical spirit of the present disclosure is not limited by theseembodiments. The scope of protection of the present disclosure should beinterpreted by the appended claims, and all technical spirits within thescope equivalent thereto should be interpreted as being included in thescope of the present disclosure.

What is claimed is:
 1. An air heating apparatus comprising: an expansiontank configured to store water; a water heater configured to receiveheat from a combustion gas generated by a combustion reaction and heatthe water; a heating heat exchanger configured to receive the waterheated by the water heater and exchange the heat with air to bedischarged for heating; a fan configured to deliver the air to theheating heat exchanger; and a steam supply flow path configured tosupply steam in the expansion tank to the fan.
 2. The air heatingapparatus of claim 1, further comprising: an air supply flow path havingone end connected to the expansion tank and configured to supply, to theexpansion tank, a portion of the air delivered to the heating heatexchanger by the fan.
 3. The air heating apparatus of claim 2, wherein,when a direction in which the fan faces the heating heat exchangerrefers to a reference direction, the other end of the air supply flowpath is disposed in the heating heat exchanger in the referencedirection.
 4. The air heating apparatus of claim 3, further comprising:a humidifying damper disposed in the air supply flow path and configuredto open or close the air supply flow path.
 5. The air heating apparatusof claim 4, further comprising: a suction duct communicating with a roomand configured to guide indoor air to the fan; a humidity measurementdevice disposed in the suction duct and configured to measure a humidityof the indoor air suctioned through the fan; and a controller configuredto control an operation of the humidifying damper based on the humiditymeasured by the humidity measurement device.
 6. The air heatingapparatus of claim 1, further comprising: a heating water supply flowpath configured to supply external water to the expansion tank; and aheating water supplement valve configured to open or close the heatingwater supply flow path.
 7. The air heating apparatus of claim 6, furthercomprising: a water level detection sensor configured to detect a waterlevel inside the expansion tank; and a controller configured to controlan operation of the heating water supplement valve based on the waterlevel measured by the water level detection sensor.
 8. The air heatingapparatus of claim 6, further comprising: a drain flow path configuredto discharge the water in the expansion tank to the outside, wherein apoint at which the expansion tank and the heating water supply flow pathare connected is disposed below a point at which the expansion tank andthe drain flow path are connected.
 9. The air heating apparatus of claim1, further comprising: a circulation supply flow path formed to connectthe expansion tank, the water heater, and the heating heat exchanger andconfigured to guide the water in the expansion tank to the heating heatexchanger via the water heater; a circulation recovery flow path formedto connect the heating heat exchanger and the expansion tank andconfigured to guide the water heat-exchanged with the air to theexpansion tank; and a circulation pump disposed downstream of theexpansion tank and upstream of the water heater in the circulationsupply flow path and configured to pump the water in the circulationsupply flow path.